Wargaming’s naval battle spectacle World of Warships has, much to the dismay of many fans, so far not included submarines. However, that will soon change, as submarines are expected to be introduced in an upcoming update.
Submarines were pretty much off the table: Many fans of World of Warships were not happy at the launch of the game when Wargaming categorically excluded submarines. Balancing would be too difficult. A submarine would have to wait a long time for its prey and then ambush it, killing it with torpedoes without a chance for retaliation.
Who wants to play that? Furthermore, players of destroyers would have to endlessly search the seemingly empty ocean for submarines and awkwardly fight the submerged boats with depth charges.
It all sounded boring and unfair, so Wargaming’s response was always “No” when asked about submarines in the game.
Submarines are coming after all!
Recently, however, Wargaming announced: “Yes, it is happening, we will soon bring submarines to World of Warships”.
When are the submarines coming? You can expect the new ships to arrive in 2019. They will be part of a large update that will significantly reshape World of Warships.
However, you can already get a taste of the submarines at Halloween in October. There will be an event where you can play the legendary submarine Nautilus from the novel “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”.
How many submarines will there be? Submarines will appear in large numbers. Currently, 180 ships for 7 nations are planned. There will also be 100 premium ships. Each ship may take up to 6 months of development time and testing.
How does balancing work with submarines?
Wargaming has come up with a number of features to ensure the balancing of submarines. Like other ship types, submarines will be integrated into the rock-paper-scissors system:
- The prey of submarines: Submarines are ideal against large ships, such as aircraft carriers and battleships
- The enemies of submarines: Destroyers and to a lesser extent cruisers can effectively combat submarines
- The strengths of submarines: They can stealthily approach enemies and bombard them with powerful torpedoes
- The weaknesses of submarines: Submarines are almost blind underwater and cannot see far. However, when they go to periscope depth, they can be spotted by other ships. Additionally, submarines are very slow when they are drifting underwater. When they surface, they are much faster, but then easy prey for all other ships.
According to Wargaming, players will receive their money back if they purchase submarines that do not meet their expectations.
Carriers also getting a major update
Submarines will not be the only major change in World of Warships. The carrier ships will be thoroughly revamped in 2019. The problem here is the skill curve. Particularly at higher tiers, hardly anyone besides pro players plays carriers anymore.
Therefore, the gameplay will be changed so that you command a single squadron directly instead of pushing multiple squadrons across the map simultaneously.
